Boondoggle

I was browsing through the dictionary today (I was looking up a word not just perusing the dictionary for fun) and came across the word boondoggle. It caught my attention because I was surprised that the word would be in a dictionary. Boondoggle is something I used to do when I was 12 or 13. You take different colored plastic strips and weave them together to create cute little key chains, zipper pulls, and things like that. I know it is still a popular hobby among young girls today because I know a 13-year-old and an 8-year-old who have proudly shown me some of their finished boondoggles. So, as I glanced at this word in the dictionary I got a good laugh at its definition...Boondoggle: a useless activity; a waste of time. Ha ha! It still makes me laugh. I'm sure if I were to call up my 13-year-old friend she would whole heartedly disagree with that definition. I know at her age I would have argued against it as well. To me boondoggling was a fun craft and not a waste of time. I actually still have a boondoggle I made when I was young. It is a pink and blue zipper pull. I'll admit I glance at it every now and then and wonder why in the world I still have it, but then I always tell myself that it's for posterities sake. One day when my kids ask me what I did for fun as a youngster I can pull out my zipper pull and show them. However, now that I know the official definition of a boondoggle I'm not so sure they will think me and my little zipper pull are all that cool. So, thank you Mr. Webster you have just dashed my reasonings for hanging onto a boondoggled zipper pull for the past 16 years!!